Thursday, August 11, 2011

Parnell is the Next Mike Pelfrey

Huge amounts of upside, but minuscule mental toughness. Am I referring to Bobby Parnell or Mike Pelfrey? Doesn't matter. Their both the same person.

Sure Pelf doesn't have the same heat on his fastball the Parnell does, but the concept is the same. Two young pitchers with an enormous amount of talent and they just can't put it all together.

Am I being too hard on Parnell? He's young you say? Give him time to grow you request? Hmmm, I said those same things about Mike Pelfrey and look where it's gotten us. Do you really have any confidence that Pelfrey will become a consistent and reliable pitcher? I know I don't. Those 15 wins last year was like Haley's comet. Hope you got a good luck because it ain't coming back.

Parnell will pitch in this league for years to come because he can hit triple digits on the radar gun, but that doesn't mean the Mets need to keep him around in their bullpen. There's a long history of hard throwing closers in Mets lore, but none of them panned out to be pitchers we ever wanted to hold onto.

Parnell might turn out to be an All Star closer. But not in New York. KC or Pittsburgh or even Oakland might suit him better. The big stage in the Big Apple messes with his mind. Throwing changeups to an aging Chipper Jones. Missing the bag when covering first. Throwing arrow straight fastballs that are set on a tee for big league hitters.

I've been burned before by young stud hurlers. Not since Doc Gooden has one panned out.

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